DHAKA: Three people were killed when a tourist boat capsized on the River Paraguay during a heavy storm near the town of Carmelo Peralta in northern Paraguay.

Police said 14 passengers managed to swim ashore, but 10 were still missing.

The boat, Dream of the Pantanal, sank, about 600km (370 miles) north of the capital, Asuncion.

Officials said it was carrying 11 Paraguayan crew and 16 Brazilian tourists, reports the BBC.

Navy divers have been called in to help with the search.

Aldo Saldivar of Paraguay’s National Emergency Secretariat said the tourists were on a fishing expedition to the Pantanal, one of the world’s largest freshwater wetlands, which stretches across areas of Brazil, Paraguay and Bolivia.

BDST: 1615 HRS, SEP 25, 2014